Singing to achieve a task
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can understand that singing can be used to help achieve a task.
Key learning points
- We warm up our body and mind before singing so that we are focused and ready.
- Sea shanties were sung by sailors all around the world to help them to achieve a task.
- Sea shanties often have a steady pulse that is sounded as a strong beat. This helps sailors work together in time.
- We can feel the pulse and hear the beat in sea shanties and can use this to help us move together.
Keywords
Warm up - a sequence of exercises used to prepare the mind, body and voice for singing
Sea shanty - a traditional folk song sung by sailors to help them work together in time
Pulse - the regular, steady heartbeat of the music
Beat - the playing or showing of the steady pulse, like the ticking of a clock
Call and response - a question and answer musical structure
Common misconception
Pulse and rhythm are the same thing.
Pulse is the regular, steady heartbeat of the music. Rhythm is the pattern of notes that we play and sing. It will follow the syllables of the words we sing. Pulse is the underlying feeling of uniformed beats.
Teacher tip
Choose your language carefully depending on the context, e.g. “Can you feel the pulse as we walk around the room?” “Let’s clap the beats in this song?"
Equipment
Drum (one) ball (one)
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
4 Questions
Q1.True or false? We only warm up before exercise.
Q2.When we use the voice to create musical sounds that can be a mixture of high sounds and low sounds, we are ...
Q3.Pulse is ...
Q4.A drum is a type of __________ instrument.
Assessment exit quiz
4 Questions
Q1.A traditional song sung by sailors to help them work together in time is called a .
Q2.The leader sings the call and this is answered with ...
Q3.Playing a strong can help us stay in time together.
Q4.How can singing together be used to help us achieve a task?
To help you plan your 2 music lesson on: Singing to achieve a task, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 2 music lesson on: Singing to achieve a task, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 1 music lessons from the Singing together: how singing helps us work together unit, dive into the full primary music curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.